Politics & Government

County, State, Can't Afford Buses For Lakeville's New Transit Corridor

Cedar Avenue in Lakeville and Apple Valley is undergoing a $112 million face lift to make it a bus rapid transit corridor, but now the county fears it may not be able to pay for the bus service once it's all done.

Dakota County is suddenly concerned that it won't have money to pay for bus service along Cedar Avenue once its $112 million face-lift is completed next year.

According to a report in the Star Tribune, the Metropolitan Council—the state agency that doles out funding for transit across the state—recently told county officials that funding to operate the buses along Cedar Avenue was a casualty of the state budget deal.

"It really knocked the wind out of my sails," Dakota County Commissioner Nancy Schouweiler said in the report. "We've got all this money put into it. We've got all this (road) work done, all these businesses are impacted and now we're not going to get buses?"

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Two months ago Dakota County officials told Lakeville Patch that when Cedar Avenue's construction is finished in 2012, the highway will be a jewel—an example for the rest of the nation on how Bus Rapid Transit should look and operate.

But without the roughly $1 million needed annually to operate buses along the corridor, the stations already dotting Cedar Avenue—some of which were just recently constructed—would go unused.

Find out what's happening in Lakevillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"This can't happen," County Commissioner Will Branning said according to the report.

County officials are looking at their options, including the use of county property tax money to pay for the services, or urging the Met Council to increase fares on buses across the metro by 25-cents per trip.

"We're not looking at big money," Branning told the Star Tribune.


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